Do they need to be just as bright at all times? If you really think about it, it makes no sense for the lights to be so bright that one has to squint when looking at the leading as I sometimes do. Our trams share the road with many other vehicles that only use headlights at night* (specifically when the streetlights are on) and Sydney trains don't use headlights day or night.

*This is the case in nearly every country in the same latitude range as Australia (20 to 40 degrees from the equator), especially those in the same latitude range as mainland Australia.

Many cars, trucks and buses now have "daylight running lights" which are almost as bright as headlights, and many other buses and trucks here run all day with headlights on because it is a known safety benefit.

Apart from the S/C sets in Sydney Trains, all others run all the time with fog/ditch lights on.

If there is a problem with the alignment of tram headlights causing the glare you should report it to YT,.

The Sydney Classic and Antique Truck (and Bus) ShowOn again May 2018@ The Museum of Fire.

Here in Australia, and nearly every other country in the same latitude range, most land vehicles either don't have them, or have programmable "driving lights," and these are not as bright as headlights, in fact no brighter than navigation lights on aircraft and vessels, which, througout the world, and only required from sunsent to sunrise. What Sydney trains have is marker lights, to indicate which end from which they are driven.

Daniel wrote:Well it didn't change any earlier... not really sure what you are trying get at?

If it were obvious that they drew more attention, then the rules (on Sydney suburban) would have changed earlier. I used to think it would be obvious that it wouldn't be the case under ample natural daylight.

Myrtone wrote:If it were obvious that they drew more attention, then the rules (on Sydney suburban) would have changed earlier. I used to think it would be obvious that it wouldn't be the case under ample natural daylight.

Safety and visibility has become much more of a priority in recent years, so there's your explanation.

What about in CBD areas with large building shadows, plus tunnels etc? Easier to run them all the time and removes the need for drivers to active them if they are default. Bright running lights make them more visible even on sunny days, which means less accidents. Simple.

All of Adelaide's CB80s that I've seen have day running LED lights, and I've never been blinded by them, nor by any of the train or tram lights. It just makes you notice the vehicle more than you might have if there were no lights.

Daniel wrote:What about in CBD areas with large building shadows, plus tunnels etc? Easier to run them all the time and removes the need for drivers to active them if they are default.

Photosensors (quite simple and reliable) like those on streetlights would also remove the need for drivers to activate them. In fact nowhere in the world are streetlights left on at all times, and the requirment here is for road vehicles headlights to be on whenever streetlights are on.

Daniel wrote:Bright running lights make them more visible even on sunny days, which means less accidents. Simple.

And yet no country in the same latitude range as mainland Australia (10-40 degrees north or south) requires road vehicles headlights to be on at all times, with the exception of the most southerly EU member states even these (such as Greece, Malta and Israel) and before 2011, when the EU made DRLs a requirement in all member states, even these didn't have such a law. Even in European countries where this is the case, headlights are still meant to be dimmed during the daytime, no matter how far from the equator. Studies in the US, where the south lies in the same latitude range (30-40 degrees north or south) as southern Australia, show that bright headlights and bright sunlight don't go well together.